i wish we could start young, and get older

When I was younger, I saw birthdays as an excuse to eat cake and hang out with friends, now I see it as a depressing holiday that moves me further and further from childhood. I have been dreaming about my sixteenth birthday my whole life as I thought it would bring me instant happiness and respect from adults. To cope with neither of those emotions coming to me by my sixteenth birthday, I wrote a poem about the holiday, girlhood, my relationship with my family, my body, and personality.